Va. St parks and pet fee

We've been usiing VA SP's for a long time, and enough them each time. For those complaining about having to pony up a few bucks for your pet.......go to the KOA (keep on adding), I am sure you will like them. Safe travels.

3 dog nights wrote:
I can't afford the State Park's. I used to go all the time, but $5 per night, per dog for the first 3 nights, ruins a weekend trip. As stated above Kiptopeake @ $37 per night + $15 for the dogs + $5 reservation fee a Fri/Sat night stay now cost me, $109. No thanks.
My three dogs weigh 25# combined and stay in the camper 98% of the time. If they want to control damage, charge for kids.
BTW, read recently that 75% of the camping public travels with a pet.

I feel your pain. I only have 1 dog so my fee is $15.00 vs. $45.00 is that correct?
At $45.00 I would certainly think VA parks do not want people with multiple pets camping there. They have set their prices to discourage those with multiple pets. I guess it's working.
On the flip side how much does it cost you to stay at a full hook up private park? $50.00-$60.00 per night in a non resort area?

Here in NJ the State parks just began last year to allow pets to a limited amount of sites per park. They charge an extra $5 per night for this. They offer exactly nothing extra for this. There are no trash cans, no bags to pick up after your pets with (if needed), or no checking of the sites after pet occupied sites have left (to make sure no mess was left behind). The only change they made was to add a laminated piece of paper tacked to a fence stating "Pet friendly sites "20 to 54". It is not even a real sign, just a piece of pink paper. Knowing how the state works, this piece of paper probably did cost them the extra dollars they are charging the campers..LOL. One thing they did right..they asked to see our dog's vaccination papers. Most campgrounds have never asked to see it.

I can't afford the State Park's. I used to go all the time, but $5 per night, per dog for the first 3 nights, ruins a weekend trip. As stated above Kiptopeake @ $37 per night + $15 for the dogs + $5 reservation fee a Fri/Sat night stay now cost me, $109. No thanks.
My three dogs weigh 25# combined and stay in the camper 98% of the time. If they want to control damage, charge for kids.
BTW, read recently that 75% of the camping puplic travels with a pet.

I'm pretty sure someone posted a few months back about this same issue. If I recall correctly, they were told by a Ranger that the fees were to deter pet
owners from camping there.

-Michael

Oaklevel wrote:
We stopped going to Virginia's State Parks because of the pet fees & other fees..... For a weekend stay it cost us $40 per night to stray at a run down Virginia State Park Campground with small sites & dump station OR $30 a night to stay at a nice clean, big rig friendly, full hookup campground near by. ...........Which would you stay at......... That's why we no longer stay at Virginia State Parks they just priced themselves out of the market............with no up grades......

Kitopeake Va. full hook up site 37.00

Elk Neck MD full hook up 36.49

Neither are dumps you are correct both are full hook ups. You won't find a full hook site in the area for $40.00. Now you may find more economical sites in more rural areas, but there are not a lot of full hook up $40.00 sites in the MD/VA area. Especially if you are near any sort of attraction.
But as Western RV Park owner stated. In addition to generating revenue. The fees are designed to keep some folks away. Nevertheless the VA parks I have reservations at are full.

Oaklevel - maybe you have not been to the right VA state parks -- lots of them have improved or added new larger sites. I think the state is just trying to make more $$$ off the weekend campers. The fees are not as bad if you stay longer. On the other hand, with only a couple of VA state parks with sewer hookups it can be difficult to stay longer. Most are pretty and have lots of outdoors natural things to do.

That said, we have a lifetime VA state park pass that gets us 10% camping fees. Even with that, it does not make sense economically to stay for one (or two) nights when a commercial campground is the same or less. One exception is if the park is the only thing close to the route that isn't really nasty. So we stay at the VA parks much less than we used to.

BTW, it seems that not all of the park rangers agree with the dog fee. You would think for that price, we could at least have a designated dog swim area.

We stopped going to Virginia's State Parks because of the pet fees & other fees..... For a weekend stay it cost us $40 per night to stray at a run down Virginia State Park Campground with small sites & dump station OR $30 a night to stay at a nice clean, big rig friendly, full hookup campground near by. ...........Which would you stay at......... That's why we no longer stay at Virginia State Parks they just priced themselves out of the market............with no up grades......

downtheroad wrote:
Wow..not trying to start something here, but charging a pet fee I guess is needed to as they say "offset costs."

Then how about also charging a fee for every group over 4 people, to "offset costs." For example, Oregon and Washington state parks allow 8 people per site..too many in my opinion and experience having camped next to groups of 8.

8 people per site put much more wear and tear on the facilities (bath houses, sewer systems, etc.) than 1 or 2 pets per site do.

Charging for groups over 4 is starting to become a trend at private parks.

Fees for pets (and extra vehicles, extra people etc) are used as much as a management tool as a revenue generator. We will soon see posts where people will tell us they will just pass by a park that charges a fee for a pet, or fees for additional people. That is partially what those fees aim to accomplish. Also, fees have been proven time and time again to be a good way to generate additional income. It is taken to the extreme by the "Seen it on TV" industry. "Buy today, get a second one free, just pay shipping and handling!" makes those two sets of Ginsu Knives for $10.00 cost around $40.00. Having $5.00 pet fees and other fees allows the park to keep the advertised price low and still generate more income.